Firefighters union back in arbitration with Montville over fire station staffing

Montville ― Paid firefighters, dissatisfied with how the town has staffed its four fire stations, have concluded arbitration with the town to resolve it.

That’s according to Mayor Leonard Bunnell, who said Wednesday he is waiting to hear from the town attorney before he can release the results of the arbitration.

This round of arbitration is the second between the paid firefighters, members of International Association of Fire Fighters Local 3386, and the town in the past year.

The first, which concluded in July of last year, resulted in an arbitration panel ruling on the side of the union. The ruling was that paid firefighters could not work alone on their 24-hour shifts, and two of the town’s four fire stations always have to be staffed with two paid firefighters.

But at the time the arbitration panel made the ruling, the town only had 12 paid firefighters ― four less than it needed to fully staff all four fire stations without paying significant overtime.

So to fulfill its obligation to the arbitration ruling, the town and its four volunteer fire chiefs decided to split the paid firefighters’ shifts. Since October, paid firefighters have hopped into department service vehicles after the first 10 hours of their shifts and then traveled to another fire station to finish the remaining 14 hours.

But in this second round of arbitration, the union is now objecting to moving between fire stations.

“They want to go to a single firehouse and stay there and not move between shifts,” Bunnell said.

The town now has 14 paid firefighters; they filled a vacancy and added one position in this recent budget cycle for the cost of about $108,000.

Radon still an issue at Montville Fire Company

The paid firefighters in arbitration have already had to deviate from the plan the town established in October due the presence of radon in the basement of Montville Fire Company No. 1, which was revealed through February testing.

Bunnell said a firm schedule for how the radon will be mitigated is expected to be available this weekend.

Meanwhile, Bunnell said paid firefighters who would usually start their shifts there have been relocated “out of an abundance of caution” to Mohegan Fire Department until the radon issue is fixed. Meanwhile, Montville Fire Company No. 1 is “manned by the volunteer staff,” he said.

He added that no one present in the building has reported any ill effects as a result of the radon.

d.drainville@theday.com